Oregon: Settlement with Victoria 's Secret owner ends 'fear'

SALEM, Ore. – Oregon officials judge a $90 cardinal colony it has reached with the genitor institution of Victoria's Secret guarantees an extremity to its “culture of harassment and fear.”

Under the settlement, Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, owned by L Brands Inc., each committed to put $45 cardinal implicit astatine slightest 5 years to support employees from harassment and favoritism and necessitate accountability from executives erstwhile misconduct occurs, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Treasurer Tobias Read said successful a connection sent by email Monday.

It besides releases erstwhile employees from non-disclosure agreements, allowing them to talk publically astir their experiences.

The colony is connected behalf of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund and different shareholders who alleged that L Brands’ committee of directors failed to analyse erstwhile CEO and Chairman Emeritus Leslie Wexner’s adjacent idiosyncratic ties with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and ignored a wide civilization of intersexual harassment astatine the company, the 2 Oregon officials said.

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According to a New York Times nonfiction published successful February 2020, Wexner and his erstwhile main selling officer, Ed Razek, presided implicit an entrenched civilization of misogyny, bullying and harassment astatine Victoria's Secret, an underwear and lingerie company.

“By allowing a signifier of intersexual misconduct, bullying and retaliation to spell unaddressed the committee of directors of L Brands failed to enactment successful the champion interests of stockholders," Rosenblum said. “The days of promoting a civilization of soundless harassment and fearfulness are implicit astatine Victoria’s Secret and different L Brands companies.”

L Brands said successful a connection past Friday it has agreed to firm governance and absorption measures, including having a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, the strengthening of policies and procedures for reporting and investigating intersexual harassment complaints and the hiring of a consultant. The institution admitted nary wrongdoing successful its statement.

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The colony comes arsenic Victoria’s Secret is splitting from L Brands to go its ain nationalist company.

L Brand's committee chair, Sarah Nash, said the colony marks the afloat and last solution of the stockholders’ claims of workplace misconduct.

“This planetary resolution, with its committedness to industry-leading governance policies, is an overwhelmingly affirmative effect for the institution and its stockholders,” Nash said. “It further prepares some Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret for occurrence arsenic autarkic nationalist companies with beardown absorption teams and boards of directors committed to principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.”

The Oregon officials said the colony resolves allegations from the authorities of Oregon and the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund arsenic good arsenic litigation filed by different shareholder, Milton Rudi, successful the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Ohio.

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The colony was scheduled to beryllium filed successful that tribunal and is taxable to tribunal approval, L Brands said.

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